


Chief

by wilderwestqueen (untakenbeepun)



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 13:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14978225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untakenbeepun/pseuds/wilderwestqueen
Summary: Hiccup worries that he's not good enough to be chief.





	Chief

“Hey, have you seen Hiccup anywhere?”

Astrid stopped in her tracks, arms full of weaponry, as she headed towards the armoury. Valka was standing there, wringing her hands together, looking somewhat awkward. She was still getting used to village life – she’d been away for twenty years and there were so many things that she had to relearn and get used to all over again. She tended to tip-toe around the place, not wanting to step on anyone’s heels.  

“Wasn’t he supposed to be with you?” Astrid asked.

Valka nodded. “Yes, but he never showed.”

“Yeah, he does that.” Astrid frowned.

“Do you know where he could be? There’s supposed to be a big town meeting tonight, and-”

“Don’t worry,” Astrid said. “I have a pretty good idea of where he might be.” 

She turned on her heel without another word, and dropped off her stuff at the armoury, before heading straight to the stables to find her Nadder. She and Stormfly were up in the air in a matter of minutes, heading across the other side of the island.

They touched down at the lake – the place Hiccup and Toothless had first met – and she found him sitting on a rock, his chin pressed to his knees as he skipped a stone across the lake. It bounced twice before sinking underneath the water.  

She joined him on the rock. He didn’t say anything, but shuffled over to give her more room.

“Your mother’s looking for you,” she said.

He made a non-committed noise at the back of his throat, skipping another stone across the water.

Astrid didn’t press further. She waited.

Eventually, Hiccup sighed. “I can’t do it.”

“Can’t do what?”

“This!” he said, waving his hands in the air. “Being a chief! Making speeches, making decisions! Everyone out there is always watching me, always waiting for me to fix something. Every time I leave the house, I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. It’s like they’re waiting for me to make a mistake!”

Quiet fell. Neither Hiccup nor Astrid spoke. The wind rustled in the trees. Somewhere in the distance, Stormfly and Toothless were playfighting.

“Pass me a stone,” Astrid said.

“Sorry?”

“Pass me a stone.”

Hiccup passed her a stone from the little pile he’d made on the edge of the rock. She took it in her hands and skipped it across the lake. It bounced five times.

“I’m not a chief kind of person, Astrid,” Hiccup said. “I’m a dragon-training, flying, disappearing kind of person. I wasn’t meant to lead. I can’t be my father.”

“You led us pretty well when we lived on the Edge.”

“There were only six of us then. Not an entire village.”

“It’s the same principle.”

“It’s not the same!” Hiccup snapped, throwing a handful of stones across the lake.

They each fell without a single bounce, splashing down and disturbing the still water.  Hiccup’s hand hovered in the air, before it fell to his side. His fringe slipped over his eyes as he bowed his head.  

“Why are you trying to psych yourself out?”

Hiccup’s hands curled around the edge of the rock. “I’m not.”

“You are,” Astrid said. “You’re trying to tell yourself that you’re not right for this, but Hiccup-” she reached out and grabbed his hand, lacing his fingers together— “You’ve proved it to us over and over again that you  _are_  right for this. You’ve been doing it since you were fifteen years old. The day you refused to kill a dragon was the day you turned this village around, and everyone knows it.”

She shifted closer, taking his other hand and forcing him to look up at her. “Hiccup, you’re right. You can’t be your father, because you’re _not him._ And he’s not what we need right now. You threw us into a whole new world when you saved Toothless, and Stoick did an amazing job of adapting to it, but he couldn’t bring us forward.  _You_ can. He knew that, and he knew you were capable. That’s why he was going to step down.”

She shifted closer still, moving down onto her knees so that she was looking up at him. “When you trust your instincts, Hiccup, you’ve never lead us astray. And no one’s saying you have to do this alone,” she said, reaching out and placing a hand over his heart. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Hiccup placed his hand over hers. “Okay.”

“Okay?” A smile spread across her face.

A small one peaked at his lips. “Okay.”


End file.
